Environmental engineering has four branches. They are:
Air Quality: This field is involved in improving air quality by devising methods to eradicate harmful air pollutants like emissions mainly in the manufacturing areas.
Environmental Impact: The engineers in this field focus on researching and understanding the impact of human activities to the environment.
Water Supply Quality: These engineers work on improving the quality of public water resources especially those that are used for industries, agriculture, and homes.
Waste Water Treatment: They are concerned with developing the systems and methodologies on treating waste water.
As an environmental engineer you aim is to facilitate improvement measures to bring about an enhancement in the environmental conditions like regular checks as well as control over pollution levels in water resources, land resources, as well as air. These engineers put into use the various concepts of chemistry, biology, as well as related sciences pertaining to environment to make the surroundings desirable to live in.
The job of an environmental engineer also includes the maintenance as well as preservation of natural habitat as well as wildlife to prevent the extinction of various species. They are concerned with recycling, waste disposal, and public health issues. Environmental engineers carry out hazardous-waste management studies in which they assess the impact of the hazard, analyze treatment methods, and devise steps to prevent mishaps. They plan and design municipal water supply and industrial and domestic wastewater treatment systems. They conduct research on various environmental projects, analyze scientific data, and implement quality control checks. They also deal with global environmental issues like acid rain, global warming, automobile emissions, and ozone depletion.
They are generally employed in organizations associated with agriculture, construction, sanitation, health as well as architecture. Many environmental engineers work as consultants, helping their clients to comply with regulations and to clean up hazardous sites.
As far as the education qualifications are concerned in order to be an environmental engineer, a bachelor's degree in civil, chemical, mechanical, or environmental engineering is required. However for research, a master's degree or a PhD is necessary. More and more employers are giving preference to those who have a master's degree these days while recruitment. Higher degrees will provide additional advantages in your subsequent career. These can be availed in reputed colleges, universities. Besides relevant training courses which are offered in vocational schools, online tutorials to hone your skills as an environmental engineer. An important aspect of the educational requirements of being a proficient environmental engineer is the certification or licensing.
Environmental engineers also need to keep abreast of a range of environmental issues and techniques of conservation, improvements, and prevention. They should be good in math, science, and engineering courses that comprise any engineering degree. It is important for them to focus on the humanities, since environmental engineering is so entwined with people. It is necessary that they have a good grasp on how people and societies function. He should have good oral and written communication skills as well as team spirit to work in an organizational set up. Experience is highly valued in this field that can promote you to the level of a manager or supervisor.
Being an environmental engineer, the job prospects are really bright. There are various industries that demand such skill and specializations. The job scope in this sector is expected to increase much faster than the average for all occupations through 2012. This expected growth will be mainly due to the emergence of this occupation as a widely recognized engineering specialty. The qualified professionals in this field will be required to develop methods of cleaning up existing hazards, preventing natural disasters, improving public health, and so on and so forth.
As far as remunerations are concerned, the average salary drawn by an environmental engineer is in the range of sixty to seventy thousand US dollars.
An environmental engineer is one of the most sought after job profiles in the domain of engineering. By stepping into the shoes of an environmental engineer, you would be able to make contributions towards making this world a better place to live.
